accidentally got the following information. It's not for GMAT, but I think it helps for GMATers..
Reasons for a Poor LSAT Score
Poor vocabulary
"I didn't know what that word meant."
"Oh," I respond, "haven't you ever seen it before?"
"Well, I guess so."
"Didn't you ever look it up?"
"No, I don't usually bother."
"Well that's why you got the wrong answer."
If you know you have a poor vocabulary, fix it! Either study word lists, or sit down and read LSAT passages and look up words you don't know. Find a vocabulary book that discusses the importance of Latin and Greek roots, so you'll know that "macro" means big and "micro" means little. When your vocabulary improves, so will your test score.
Poor Problem-Solving Skills
"I don't know what to do next."
Well, how will you decide?"
"I don't know."
Well, what should you think about?"
"I don't know."
"Oh. Then you can't do logic games."
Problem solving ability is acquired, not innate. You don't acquire it by reading textbooks. You don't acquire it by asking people to figure things out for you. You certainly don't acquire it by watching TV or movies, or even by reading mysteries. You may or may not acquire it in your normal life. If you call the plumber when the toilet won't flush instead of opening up the tank and getting your fingers wet, you probably won't acquire it.
How do you acquire it? By solving problems. Get books of puzzles. Logic games, brain twisters, cryptograms all build your problem-solving skills. Computer games like Sherlock and Smartgames build your problem-solving skills. Buy them, play with them, and learn.
Now I know it sounds odd to say you learn to figure things out by figuring things out. But it's true. After all, you learn to ride a bike by riding a bike, and you learn to play tennis by playing tennis. Thinking is a thing you do, and you learn to do by doing.
Risk Aversion
This common emotional problem is one I see when I'm tutoring. The student reads the answers, marks B, and keeps right on reading the same set.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking."
"Did you read all five answers?"
"Uh-huh."
"Do you know why you like B?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then what are you checking"?
"Making sure" is an enormous waste of time, but it's an emotional crutch many people cannot give up. Thorough, diligent people often do this. They seem to forget that a good score requires getting a lot finished as much as of getting them right.
Occasionally, a person can be told this and move right on. More often, they are like people who have to check four times that they locked the door. The problem is an emotional one, a need to be positive, or more often a fear of being wrong that won't let them move on even when they know that they're hurting their score.
Sadly, I know of no cure for this short of a year or two of therapy or a near-death experience -- something to teach you that being wrong just isn't such a big deal.
Panic Type 1 -- I Rushed.
"I blew the logic games."
"What happened? You're great at logic games!"
"Well, the first game was an easy sequence, but it took me 11 minutes. I knew that was way too long, so I tried to hurry on the next game. The game wasn't hard, but I misread a rule and didn't realize it until the 4th question. Then I had to start over. So I tried to find my mistake real fast, but I couldn't...."
"Did the first game have conditional statements ("If A then B" rules)?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then it was supposed to take 11 minutes. I know I told you in class that the purpose of conditionals is to slow you down. But instead of remembering that, you panicked."
"Well, yeah."
"Okay. Cancel your score."
No one has ever, ever, in the 16 years I've been teaching LSATs, said to me, "I panicked." Instead, they say, "I was going too slow, so I started to hurry up." That, folks, is panicking.
There is no way on God's green earth to think faster than you do, except by practicing how to think. As your techniques improve, your timing and scores will improve. Trying to think an iota faster then you do is a guaranteed way to reduce your score.
Panic Type 2 -- I Froze
"I was doing fine. I was down to number n, and the proctor called five minutes. Then I don't know what happened, but I didn't get a single other question answered."
Freezing is particularly difficult kind of panic to overcome. I do know of a few things you can try. Always practice with a large, loud clock in front of you until you learn to ignore it. Get your housemates to proctor you, and have them announce the time every five minutes. Make time so repetitive that it disappears into the background, like people do who live near a train.
Panic Type 3 -- Second-Guessing
"I thought A was right. But then I wasn't sure, so I picked C instead."
The underlying assumption to this kind of panic is "I am wrong. I am stupid, I can't do this, I don't know what they want, so if an answer looks good to me, choose another."
You can disprove this assumption by repeatedly marking your instinctive choice, your "but maybe it's..." choice, and then looking to see which is right. You need to do that hundreds of times over several months. Eventually, you can learn that you do know what they want.
Why People Panic
The belief behind all these panic responses is that your LSAT score is THE most important thing in the world, and that THIS VERY NEXT QUESTION will make or break your score. Both of these beliefs, are, of course, wrong.
Essays reflecting creativity and maturity, recommendations, and life experiences are all part of the evaluation process. A higher LSAT score will help, of course, but it won't be the sole deciding factor. So take some of the pressure off yourself, and you may see your score magically improve.
Why Are You Saying This Now?
"Duh, Loretta, I've already got my score. It's too late to change it."
"No it's not! If you want to change it now, you can. You have months to improve your vocabulary, to learn how to think, to teach yourself that rushing, freezing and second-guessing don't work and that staying calm does."
"I don't want to retake the LSAT."
"Oh. Okay. Then you'll probably have to settle for a lower-ranked school."
"But why can't they look at my other stuff instead?"
"Because you want a top tier school, and you define it by a USNWR rank, and USNWR ranks by LSAT scores and yield rates. You bought into this circular reasoning, so you now you're stuck with it."
[此贴子已经被作者于2003-1-14 0:46:19编辑过]
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